Silvio begs the captain farewell with a bow and a smile then casually flips Soller's rapier over the railing and after its owner (unless it is obviously of fine craftmanship. I don't want to throw our first mwk loot in the water just for show).

The nobleman is just about to announce the ships capture to his friends with grand gestures as he is interrupted by the spiderlike creature bursting out from the hatch. For a time the chelaxian stands speechless and somewhat dazed before donning his nonchalant smile and approaches with his blade held high.

"Whatever it is Silvio will soon have it impaled on his blade", he declares.

You recognize the creature as a rhagodessa, a primeval vermon that's usually a nocturnal hunter that dwells in caverns and creeps out after sunset to seek food. It lacks the venmous stinger or crushing claws of a scorpion but makes up for it with its jaws.

As Sekathral grabs a bolt and loads the crossbow, Silvio leaps toward the spider-like creature, but his blade seems to leap off the creature's armored hide. Vark's blade did look too nice to toss overboard, by the way.

It suddenly screams though as Finn's gourd hits it and explodes, bathing it in a burst of flame. 10 hp damage

Dargon approaches quickly, his axe blade cutting deep and drawing any screech of protest from the creature. 9 hp, 19 total

Zstelian's javelin cames flying through the air between Dargon and Silvio and slams into the creature, pinning it to the hull, as it lets out one last cry before it falls silent and stops moving.

Wow, that was anti-climactic; you guys just slaughtered the poor thing.

All is quiet on the ship now, while off ship, Kayle lets out a plaintive cry as she misses one of the swimmers now approaching the shore, barely pulling out of her dive before landing in the water.

Sekathral puts the crossbow down and walks over to the sailors' corpses on the deck, searching them for valuables. He pauses in the middle of his search and looks at Dargon. "Next time, we'll cut the cackle and just do things your way, chief" He says. "Since we're all still upright, shouldn't we chuck that.. thing overboard and then check the vessel for this ring we were sent for?" He stares gloomily down at the deck. "I hope Vark wasn't wearing it..."

Kyson is relieved the man he hurt is not dead and finishes binding his wounds before moving down to join the others. Kyson's steps are unsteady and he pauses while down the stairs to vomit again over the side.

And there are some who like battle.

Kyson wipes off his mouth and wipes his hand on a rope as he rejoins the group.

"Are we ready to go down? And does anyone know what that thing is called?" Kyson points at the insect beast.

"It's called a rhagodessa", Zstelian explains as he pulls his javelin from the chitinous hide. "They are a kind of monstrous vermin. They usually live in very old very deep caves, far from any kind of civilization. There is no way this thing got onto the ship on its own."

Breathing a mile a minute, the small, sped up version of Finn responds, "There was this thing and a bunch of monkeys and parrots and other critters all in cages below. This thing was guarded--she's kind of messy now. Vark had to be preparing all these for transport--there's no way he was going to give up this ship."

"We saw them loading a huge crate onto the ship the night before" Says Sekathral to Finn "That must have been it. What in Besmara's holy name would anyone want with such a thing, though? Some sort of Blood on a Black Rock type contest?"

Sekathral puts the crossbow down and walks over to the sailors' corpses on the deck, searching them for valuables. He pauses in the middle of his search and looks at Dargon. "Next time, we'll cut the cackle and just do things your way, chief" He says. "Since we're all still upright, shouldn't we chuck that.. thing overboard and then check the vessel for this ring we were sent for?" He stares gloomily down at the deck. "I hope Vark wasn't wearing it..."

"Aye, best ta get 'er over 'fore she starts ta stink.", Dargon says, while picking it up to toss it over.

Dargon then looks back at his new allies, "Time ta find that ring Lavinia's after."

With the ship apparently cleared of enemies, you quickly begin searching. Below, the hold is full of cages, about half still filled with animals such as monkeys and parrots, yelling and squawking loudly. The door is broken loose on an empty, large, iron cage and a headless woman's body lies on the floor nearby.

The rest seems shipshape to the experienced sailors among you, though signs of the thugs' use are evident in the bunk room and galley. A large chest sits in the captain's quarters, but it's Kyson who discovers a Vanderboren signet ring hidden in the headboard of the captain's bunk. A scrap of rolled-up parchment has been threaded through the ring.

There are also several bodies that can be looted/disposed of if you so choose, plus one unconscious but still breathing sailor.

Silvio casually goes through the belongings of the defeated sailors without much intrest except for Soller Vark's rapier, the trophy of the day. Balancing it on the top of his hand he holds the blade up to his face, his gleaming smile reflected in the steel. "Sekathral, here you go", Pazzi says and throws the rapier to the rogue. "For fighting valiantly."

"The lady Vanderboren is waiting for her jewlery, Silvio suggests that we keep her waiting no longer. If the ship gets infested with, then Silvio will sweep it clean again!" Silvio says clearly unimpressed with the note. He only mentions it casually and dismisses any eventual importance it might have saying "Those are all beasts right? Like the spider that was locked below. It is a shopping list of sorts!"

"Somebody'd better go with him, just in case" shouts Sekathral, busy rummaging around in the hold and cursing under his breath at his lack of success so far. "Meanwhile, let's get those corpses stripped and over the side before the watch turn up. I say we lock the live 'un in the brig and question him later - what do you think?"

I'd like to make a second Perception check to see if I can find anything else worth having - 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14. If I can't, I'll give up, go up on deck and start heaving the bodies into the water.

Kyson, you can add inspired others to clean in your list of accomplishments now.

From the bodies of the five sailors, you can recover 5 suits of leather armor, 5 bucklers, 5 rapiers, 5 light crossbows and 42 bolts and 25 gp, plus the very nice rapier that Silvio tosses to Sekathral.

Sekathral, you don't find anything else of special interest on the boat.

After the bodies have been thrown overboard, stomachs slit so they don't come back up and start bobbing around in the harbour, Sekathral changes his mind and speaks to Dargon and Zzestelian. "That bilge-rat up there" he says, indicating the wounded thug on the poop ?? . "Let's stick a bag over his head and take him with us. Maybe he can give the paymistress some answers"

"Sekathral, here you go", Pazzi says and throws the rapier to the rogue. "For fighting valiantly."

Sekathral stares at the rapier for a moment, then at Silvio, then back at the rapier. "Eh? " He thinks. "Is it cursed? Doesn't he like rapiers? Is this some sort of wierd Chelish insult?" He shakes his head, then shrugs. "Thanks, cap'n" He stutters, slightly in shock.

We can do some retconning depending on what you decide to do with the unconscious sailor, if need be. Wasn't sure if you were waiting for me or if it was just a weekend lull, but while I suspect it's the latter, didn't want to hold things up if it's the former.

Lavinia is thrilled after Kora leads you to her in the trophy room upon your return to the Vanderboren mansion. "Thank you so much! I'm sorry to hear you had to resort to bloodshed, but I suppose Vark left you no other choice.

"I'm a little worried that he escaped, though. Do you think he might try for some sort of revenge? I hate to impose more upon your generosity, but would you be willing to keep helping me? I feel as though I should have some sort of escort to Castle Teraknian to get into the vault, just in case Vark tries something, and with the Jade Ravens away ..."

"I know you turned down my offer before, but I would be more than happy to pay you for your services, of course." She laughs, and adds, "Especially now that I have access to the family's money."

As far as the living sailor is concerned, Kyson kept him alive because he didn't want to kill him. He's never killed anybody and wasn't quite ready to do it...yet.

He's happy to bring the sailor with or just leave him on the street (alive).

* * *

"Uhm. You're welcome Lavinia. They fought well, Silvio and Dargon and the bird and Sekathral and Finn and Silvio some more. There was lots of blood, but we cleaned up the ship for you, Lavinia. I cleaned it good."

Kyson is happy to describe some parts of the battle, leaving out vivid descriptions of gore or blood (lest he become ill again).

* * *

"Oh yeah, I can escort you Lavinia. I'm sure it will be safe in the middle of all these powerful warriors." Kyson looks at Silvio and the rest.

"Maybe after I finish escorting you, I can go back to the monastery. Maybe you'll write me a letter."

"I'm a little worried that he escaped, though. Do you think he might try for some sort of revenge?"

"What worries me is who he was working for" Mutters Sekathral. "Still, let's go to the vault. Nice day for a stroll through Eleder, and I might get to try out my new sword, with any luck" He flourishes the blade in front of him, grinning wolfishly.

Incidentally, is this just a mwk rapier, or will it need identifying? I'll need to amend my stats either way, I suppose...

We can do some retconning depending on what you decide to do with the unconscious sailor, if need be. Wasn't sure if you were waiting for me or if it was just a weekend lull, but while I suspect it's the latter, didn't want to hold things up if it's the former.

I better figure out where Vark can be found, just in case.

Dargon throws some water on the sailor to wake him. "Where's Vark off to, boy?!"

Intimidate1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19

motteditor wrote:

"I'm a little worried that he escaped, though. Do you think he might try for some sort of revenge? I hate to impose more upon your generosity, but would you be willing to keep helping me? I feel as though I should have some sort of escort to Castle Teraknian to get into the vault, just in case Vark tries something, and with the Jade Ravens away ..."

"Of course we'll take ya, lass" Dargon says with the assumption that all will accompany.

motteditor wrote:

"I know you turned down my offer before, but I would be more than happy to pay you for your services, of course." She laughs, and adds, "Especially now that I have access to the family's money."

At the ship"Silvio can see that you have some kind of connection to the heavens", Silvio says as he approaches Kyson. "That thing you did, restoring the spirits of the dwarf and elf, is it possible to do again? Silvio seems to have cut himself on the kitten accompanying the captain", he asks and makes a nonchalant gesture at his back.

Back at the manor"My lady need not fear Soller Vark or any other as long as Silvio is here", the chelaxian announces. "A lovely lady such as yourself should not walk the streets unescorted. Silvio accepts!"

Kyson looks at Dargon, then the note, then at Dargon again. He begins to get excited.

"You want me to copy the note? Oh sure! I can do that." Kyson break out his ink and inkpen and finds a quiet place to (finally) do real work.

1d20+4 Calligraphy

Not my best work, but it will do.

Kyson will hand Dargon a nicely calligraphied copy of the note, smiling.

Dargon takes the copy, and after giving it a glace, looks back to Kyson. "Looks good friend."

Kyson Tirc wrote:

Kyson doesn't consider himself to be a healer so he won't assume that anyone need help unless they ask.

As far as Kyson knows, he's channeled exactly once in his entire life.

I'm ok with playing to that. I put it out there ooc style so that the party would know the state of affairs. But both in an out of character there is no expectation for Kyson to do anything about it.

While Dargon is certainly not opposed to magical healing or being helped by his allies, he perfers letting time heal his wounds, because it toughens his skin. Helping me to justify the improved natural armor feats he'll be taking. ;)

Dargon, you're not sure off the top of your head who might be able to very quickly convert the goods to gold. You think it may take a day or two. You may also want to decide in the discussion thread how you want to divvy treasure; do you want to have a party share, etc.?

Once you've agreed to help her, Lavinia asks Kora to hire a carriage to take you to the castle. As you wait, she tells you that all of Eleder's nobles have vaults under the castle, but she's never seen any of them. Rumors hold that some of the family vaults are quite extensive and guarded by traps, though based on things she over heard her father say through the years, she suspects the Vanderboren Vault is relatively small and safe, though there may be some sort of guardian.

The carriage will arrive shortly, but let me know if you want to do anything before arriving at the castle.

Dargon throws some water on the sailor to wake him. "Where's Vark off to, boy?!"

Intimidate 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19

Did we get any sort of response from the sailor?

Sekathral will fill his pipe with a mixture of flayleaf and pesh, taking a few lungfuls before coughing violently and running outside to be sick "Gah!" He splutters. "They've been cutting it with tar again! He hands the lump of pesh to Finn, muttering something about the possibility of purifying it, then turns to Lavinia. "Before we go, lady" He says, nervously. [/b] "I don't suppose you've got a mage in the house, have you?" [/b]

The man shakes his head, first apparently to clear the water from his face, then in response to your question. "I don't know. He jus' promised us gold if he we 'elped get the animals on the boat, and then tonight onto some other boat. We didn' know they was your animals or boat or anything."

The man shakes his head, first apparently to clear the water from his face, then in response to your question. "I don't know. He jus' promised us gold if he we 'elped get the animals on the boat, and then tonight onto some other boat. We didn' know they was your animals or boat or anything."

Dargon considers the sailor story and assuming he finds no holes in it, desides to leave him be.